Four people, including the interim incumbent, are seeking the 2
nd
District seat on the
St. Tammany Parish Council
in the Oct. 14 special
election
to fill the seat of Councilman Dennis Sharp, who died in May.

The candidates are: David Fitzgerald, who was a friend of Sharp and was appointed to the post by the council; Joe Freeman Jr., a political newcomer who sought the interim appointment; Marvin Lawson, who previously ran for parish president; and Clark Taylor, who is also making his first run for elected office.

The winner of the race will fill the remainder of Sharp's term, which expires Jan. 13, 2020.
The 2
nd
District
takes in a small portion of
Covington
and areas east and north of the city, including the Lee Road community.

Early voting starts on Saturday (Sept. 30).

Here is a look at the candidates.

David Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald, 64, a Republican, said he did not decide to run for the office until after being
appointed as interim councilman
, a job he admittedly accepted "with some skepticism.

"You hear about government and politics in somewhat of a negative light, speaking from the societal standpoint. Once I got there, the people I was working with seemed to be hard working, good people."

Fitzgerald, a Bogalusa native whose family's roots run deep in St. Tammany Parish, said he wants to serve as a liaison between citizens of the district and their parish government and help them with any problems they may have.

"This isn't a stepping stone to POTUS (president of the United States)," he said. "It's about giving back. I've lived a blessed life here in St. Tammany Parish. The reason people move here . . . I want to keep those reasons."

Fitzgerald, who lives north of Covington, cited drainage as the No. 1 concern on the minds of most of the citizens with whom he has come in contact. Many have complained about development causing drainage problems that never existed previously.

He said mistakes were made by the parish in the past regarding growth and drainage. "The good news is henceforth we're really trying to put in a lot of time planning new developments with drainage in mind," Fitzgerald said.

"I feel we need to have vision from someone who has seen the parish grow," said Fitzgerald. "As we look at that growth plan, we need to be extremely vigilant."

His platform includes ensuring tax dollars are put to the best possible use, responding quickly to constituents and maintaining personal integrity and forthrightness that the public office deserves.

Fitzgerald, who ran for the parish School Board in the late 1990s, teaches chemistry at the New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy in Algiers. He served in the Air Force as a pilot and is a retired pilot for American Airlines.

He holds a bachelor's degree from LSU and a master's in management from Webster University in St. Louis.

Joe Freeman Jr.

Freeman, 71, lives in the
Abita Springs
area and operates a small mobile home parts store called "Smokin' Joes" in Covington. He's a Democrat making his first run for elected office.

Freeman said he's long thought about running for office and decided to give it a shot when the seat opened.

"This is basically a learning process for me," said Freeman, a Navy veteran and former St. Tammany sheriff's deputy and Covington police officer. "I've never been involved in any political campaign. I'm grass roots.''

Freeman, a native of Hobbs, N.M., who has lived in the 2
nd
District for 32 years, said some parts of the district need attention, such as roadside grass cutting and road repairs. Streets in the New Claiborne/Lonesome Pine areas as well as Arthur Road in the Covington area need repair, he said, and grass cutting is needed along roads in the Helenberg Road area south of the city.

Freeman says the population has outgrown the infrastructure, as evidenced by traffic-choked highways. Subdivisions are still being built, though the existing drainage system can't handle it, he said.

Moreover, Freeman, who is African-American, said the parish government needs diversity, noting there are only two women and one African-American on the 14-member Parish Council.

"From my perspective, St. Tammany Parish government needs new ideas, new vision and some diversity. The majority of the people on the Parish Council are like-minded people. If you don't have different ideas, different opinions and different views, then it's like a rubber-stamp council."

Freeman's platform includes keeping parish and district voters informed on what the government is doing, improving the relationship between citizens and government, and seeking to beautify sections of the parish that have been neglected.

"It's not so much about me so much as it is about the community and the district itself," he said.

Marvin Lawson

Lawson, who was born in 1953, lives near Abita Springs. He lists no political party.

The Abita Springs-area resident is a native of New Orleans and a 1973 graduate of St. Paul's School. He ran for St. Tammany Parish president in 2011, receiving 4 percent of the vote in a race won by current President Pat Brister.

Lawson could not be reached for an interview about his candidacy, but he filled out a questionnaire for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in which he said he was retired. Under employment history, he listed work at Atlas Construction, Equitable Shipyard, Bud's Nursery and Gats Masonry Products.

His platform includes eliminating the spending of taxpayer dollars on non-essential programs; cleaning up litter, which would encourage tourism; spending more on drainage improvements; developing a transportation program to increase connectivity and reduce traffic congestion; improving salaries for public works crews; and eliminating individual sewage treatment systems and replacing them with community systems to improve water quality in rivers.

Clark Taylor

Taylor, 59, of the Covington area, is a business owner with a diverse background, having held a variety of jobs: offshore laborer, bartender, comedian, screenwriter, children's author and restaurant manager.

A member of the Independent party, Taylor is the owner operator of Junction Productions Inc. and Tin-Ups LLC, which creates and sells wall decor and tin signs.

The New Orleans native said he decided to run for office after seeing a political sign for a candidate running for state representative. A look at the Oct. 14 ballot revealed a council seat up for grabs in his district.

"I saw it as the perfect opportunity. So I jumped in."

Taylor, who said he plans to ride his bicycle on every street in the district, said drainage is foremost in voters' minds. "No matter who I talked to, it was drainage."

Taylor said he would push to create a more responsive public works department and seek better planning of developments to ensure drainage is not adversely affected.

Some voters he has talked to say they can't get their ditches cleaned, Taylor said. One of his neighbors has been waiting for years, while a block away, the ditches are clean, he said.

Taylor is a proponent of more transparency and citizen involvement in government. "With the political climate we're in now, a lot of people have withdrawn from the process. Apathy has become a big part. This is a time where we need to get involved."

Taylor's platform also includes improving internet infrastructure and using social media to connect to voters; helping small businesses thrive; improving civic engagement; changing the emphasis from incarceration to treatment for drug offenders.

Taylor, a graduate of Covington High School, has a bachelor's degree in English and a master's in history, both from San Francisco State University.